And a lot less of this
That’s all
Monthly Archives: July 2010
Does the world need better Strategists?
Over at Naked NYC’s blog there’s a provactive post about whether the world needs Digital Strategists. As one, I actually agree with much of the post. I agree with the fact that de-centralising strategy is not a good thing.
However one thing that concerns me about some comments, is the air that digital strategy is somehow subordinate to traditional planning and it’s just a skill you can pick up by spending time on the Internet. Or that Digital Strategists don’t get brands or can’t generate insights as well as traditional planners.
I do believe that putting it in a silo is unhelpful, but lets not forget how it came about and why it still exists. As professionals who are paid to understand people/culture/media on behalf of brands the vast majority of planners have dropped the ball and not delivered. Hence digital strategists. You can’t blame people for filling voids and creating opportunities that you have allowed to exist.
My gut says that in the not too distant future digital strategists, won’t exist, but they will be running strategy or marketing departments.
Give the same problem to the best ‘digital strategist’ in the world and the best ‘traditional planner’ in the world and I’d have my money on the former.
So I’d re-phrase their post to ‘Does the world need better strategists?’
A tale of two buttons – Fan versus Like
So according to this article Facebook is serving 3 Billion ‘Like’ buttons a day. Don’t get me wrong, Facebook did a smart thing launching the like button. It spreads its seed across the web because it’s obviously much easier to like something than it is to be a fan of something. I might admit to the fact that part of me likes prancing about to a bit of Culture Club, but I wouldn’t call myself a fan. It requires less commitment.
From friend to friend it works, but from a brand’s point of view I think I kind of preferred fan as a benchmark, it made you work harder. ‘Like’ lowers the standards (which are already often low), resulting in the interaction being weaker and inflating the numbers. I’d go even as far as saying it’s the closet equivalent of some sort of standard volume metric in social.
Posted in Communications, Digital, Social, Social Media, Social networking
QR Codes are only useful if they do useful things
I can tell you why QR codes haven’t really flown outside parts of Asia. Because they aren’t really used that well. Replacing a URL or showing another ad, is let’s face, not useful. This on the other hand is…
Via
Posted in Communications, Digital, Digital Strategy, Marketing
Planning stuff and doing stuff
I’m in the rather unfortunate position to have the word ‘strategy’ in my job title. I say that for a couple of reasons. One, I feel like a tosser when introducing myself to people. And two, the word is a bit on the nebulous side. Perhaps that’s why I feel like a tosser?
I hate to say it, but I will. In marketing land ‘strategy’ is too detached from the doing. I’m not saying planners should also be ideas people, but being good at generating insights and storytelling isn’t really cutting it with me. A planner today needs to be much closer to helping solutions see the light of day and making them happen.
Here are two; not so much contrasting views, but they highlight my point. To be honest I agree with them both, but if you asked me who I would prefer to employ it’s the person that ‘sweats the small stuff’ than tells the stories.
Rory Sutherland articulates the problem perfectly: “The big stuff is done magnificently well, what you might call the small stuff is done spectacularly badly. There’s a complete gridlock in solving these solutions. The people that can actually solve them are too powerful and pre-occupied with what they call strategy to actually solve them”.
1. Rory Sutherland. Sweat the small stuff
2. Skills of the Rockstar Planner: Communicating Ideas
Posted in Advertising, Communications, Plannning, Strategy
Recent Comments